Leap Frog Society Records

        Leap Frog Society was a band close to my heart because these guys are close friends.  

       They were in the 4th, 5th, or 8th wave of Las Vegas bands that claimed the lineage of LVHC, or at the very least they couldn't be labeled as anything else.  LFS started around 94 and I think broke up in 96. 

        I watched them progress from shitty noise jams to shitty punk jams.  Funny band.  And strangely enough not such a stupid band name.  Actually it's really stupid unless you get the inside joke.  Leap Frog Society was a reference to an old friend by the name of Jason Comstock.  He wanted to leap frog over society and then get out of the way when society tried to leap frog over him.

Maybe it is a stupid band name?

       These two records were pretty inspirational to me back then.  Once again I have to add that if it were not for the efforts of Boyde Wenger I don't think either of these records would have been released.  Boyde put out the LFS split with Catapult on Bucky Records which lit a fire under Leap Frog's ass and got them to self release a 2nd record on Meat Slap Records.

       Boyde later booked a tour for Leap Frog Society going up the West Coast and looping back to Vegas via Colorado.  I was lucky enough to roadie for those guys on that tour and I'll be forever grateful for the experience.  

       This is not a full discography of Leap Frog Society.  They did a short song for the Wood Panel Pacer With Mags Compilation LP for Very Small Records which is a great album filled with 99 songs, none over 30 seconds long.  If you haven't heard it yet you probably should.  LFS also did a song for a Bucky records compilation which I couldn't find in my stacks.  Luckily my brother Mark gave me a copy yesterday.  


      I promise to digitize that record soon!  

       Musically these LFS records are a mixed bag.  The first 7" has much better production.  The second 7" was recorded on a 12 channel cassette recorder so it's considerably more lo-fi which isn't a bad thing really.  Both of them have moments of brilliance.  Junkie Cop is a great track from the first record.  It makes me want to hear some of their songs that didn't make it to vinyl like "Bunk Dose" or their "Slayer cover" but I don't think they ever even recorded those songs. 


    

       I think I dig the 1st record more.  It's more relaxed, dopey, and somewhat experimental.   They became better musicians and songwriters by the time they put out the second record but it comes off a little formulaic in the crusty/bad metal genre.  You can tell they were listening to a bunch of Filth and other crusty shit by the time they started recording the 2nd record.  Still I'd say Human Atrocity and Defective Genes are both great tracks off that record.  The other day I was listening to Terrorizer and I swear it sounded a little like the chorus in  Human Atrocity.        

       Leap Frog fit in well with the scene that was developing around that time of similarly minded bands who tended to drop the tuff guy posturing which had been a staple of this kind of music since the 80's.  Even though the second record does have a little more ballsy attitude it still comes across as a party record.  Albeit one swinging a chain. LFS became active alongside other cool bands like Boba Fett Youth, Catapult, Heroines, Tommorow's Gone.  God it seemed like there were more but I'm drawing a blank.  Lickety Split?  

       Lyrically you're not dealing with a bunch of geniuses here.  The first record is dumber than dirt.  Somehow I like it better.  It was unabashed in it's simplistic stupidity.  It was a just a bunch of guys trying to hold it together long enough to come up with some  songs and it comes off pretty unique.  They got real wordy on the second one which plays into the crusty feel of the deal.  Not like you can understand a word anyway but I made a good scan of the lyric sheet so if you're really curious you can try and follow along.  

500 records pressed.  All 500 covers were printed on recycled beer boxes.  That's 6,000 beers.  

       I digitized these by letting the record play out.  So hey- welcome Leap Frog Society into the digital age.  Here's to hoping that Greg can find and digitize that Slayer cover song someday.  Man I loved that song.  

Leap Frog Society/Catapult Split
1. Rotten Tank
2. Yeah I'll Fucking Pay You Back
3.  Junkie Cop
4.  Fuk Cars


Don't Get Caught 7"
5. Shitfinger
6.  Concrete Hell
7.  Defective Genes
8. Rebuilding Paradise
9. Bicycle Terrorist
10. Human Atrocity


Lyric Sheet for Catapult split
Lyric Sheet for Don't Get Caught